INTERVIEW, WINTER 2009 Once the students posted
their video responses to the original Let’s
Go Crazy #1 video, Stephanie Lenz had to “accept” the responses
on the YouTube interface. She soon realized what we were up to, so we
exchanged a few friendly emails. I asked her if she would be willing to answer
some questions raised during our class and the result is this informal
interview. This entire interview took place, funnily enough, through the
YouTube mail interface.

1 Was the song Let’s
Go Crazy used because Holden specifically likes to dance to it? Was it an editorial
decision because you felt the kids were going crazy, running around and dancing;
or did it just happen to be the song in the background at the time of making
the home video?

Stephanie: I hadn’t planned to make a video with
that song in the background, but Holden would stop and dance in front of the
CD player almost every time he passed it.

2 Do you still play Prince
in your house or car?

Stephanie: I do actually, although not as much
as I used to. We were all riding in the car recently and a Prince song came
on the radio. My husband went to turn the channel and I said to leave it. He
made a joke about having to pay to listen to the song - which is a joke I
hear a lot of people making these days - and I said that I wasn’t about
to let Prince ruin that music for me. I can’t help liking the music;
I’ve enjoyed it for 20-25 years. I just don’t care much for him
personally now.

3 How did you end up working
with the EFF? Did you take the case to them initially? Were they immediately
agreeable to defending you or were there moments of uncertainty?

Stephanie: When the video was pulled, I was worried
that it might be followed with a lawsuit from Universal. A friend of mine recommended
that I contact Creative Commons and/or EFF. Creative Commons also recommended
EFF. I spoke via e-mail and then via phone with people at EFF and together
we decided to file this lawsuit upon YouTube’s reinstatement of the video,
which we did.

4 It looks like your videos,
Let’s Go Crazy #1 and Musical Sunday are the most recent
additions to your profile, both from February 2007. Have you made new videos
since that time period which you plan to post to YouTube?

Stephanie: I have made some home videos but I
make far fewer videos than I used to. For example, I used to go through one
tape a month on my camcorder. Now it’s several months before I need to
get out a new tape (the exception being December, which includes Holden’s
birthday and Christmas). I take more still photos than I used to. I don’t
know that I’ll be using YouTube to share any future videos. Not that
I used it very much to begin with. As you can see, all my YouTube videos are
short home movies. I shot a little home movie using my camcorder the other
day of Holden dancing to Christina Aguilera's “Candyman” and I know I can never
show it to anyone via the Internet, not because I’ve done anything wrong
in creating it but because she’s a Warner Brothers artist and Warner
is currently handing out an inordinate number of takedown notices. I’m not eager
to repeat this process.

Let’s Go Crazy - Bottoms Up earned
Stephanie’s laughter.

Let’s Go Crazy Toys worry about copyright infringement

5 What are your general
feelings about posting videos to YouTube in the future - are you hesitant,
are you tired of thinking about the case, do you sometimes just want to
litter the YouTube database?

Stephanie: Sometimes I would like to do a video
blog entry but I know that my channel (and my blog) are being watched by
UMG and others so until my case is finished, I can restrain myself. It does
make me angry that I’m made out to be a criminal for using YouTube
in a way that didn’t violate the Terms of Service (or infringe UMG’s
copyright).

6 Were you surprised when
a flurry of new videos were posted as a response to Let’s Go Crazy
#1 in December 2008?

Stephanie: I was! The first one I saw was of
two young women in bikinis and at the end when they turned around it said,
“fair use” on their
bottoms (seen below). I laughed and I thought it was a cute parody.
Then another came up. And another. Then I thought, “There must be a
project going on.” It wasn’t until one of the video creators
included with her notes that it was for her class that I knew what was happening.
I’ve
accepted every one as a video response. They’re very clever.

7 We certainly appreciate
that you’ve accepted all of the entries as responses to the original video.
Do you feel that what we are doing as a class (and what I plan to continue
to do with classes) demonstrates our support of your case?

Stephanie: It does seem that everyone doing a
response comes down on the free speech/fair use side of the case, especially
since these videos use the same piece of music in a similar way. It seems
like the students are button-pushers and, having always been a bit of a button-pusher
myself, I appreciate that. I’m not sure what the other plans are for
the project but I’ve enjoyed watching the project evolve as the pieces are
completed and made public.

8 Is there anything you’d
like to see in a video response with the same 29 seconds of Let’s Go
Crazy set as the background music?

Stephanie: I like the creative freedom the students
have so I don’t want to make any suggestions. I’m also entertained
by the fact that UMG hasn’t, to my knowledge, sent a takedown notice
to any of the students. I admit to being curious about one thing: if anyone
parodied Prince’s image in a video, would that still hold true?